


Light My Candle

by lunarknightz



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Power Outage, pride and prejudice - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 13:39:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8146072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: Rory reconnects with an old friend.  Set post "He's Slipping Em Bread, Ya Dig?"





	

“Damn it.” Rory threw down her copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ beside her as the power flickered off. A particularly bad line of thunderstorms had been passing through the area most of the day, causing the power to be flickering on and off for more of the afternoon- usually just long enough for Rory to loose her place in her book. She’d read _Pride and Prejudice_ several times before; but wanted to reread it after the marathon of the BBC miniseries and the new movie with the girl from _Pirates of the Carribbean_ last weekend with her mother and Lane. 

“At this rate.” She sighed, “There’s absolutely no hope for you, Elizabeth. Kiss Mr. Darcy goodbye.” 

The power stayed off. Rory got off the couch and stumbled through the apartment to the kitchen in search of a flashlight. She rooted through the drawers in vain. No sign whatsoever of a flashlight. Rory knew for a fact that she didn’t have a flashlight in her room; and she wasn’t quite desperate enough to go rooting around in Doyle and Paris’ room. The possibility of finding something that she’d be better enough not knowing about was too high. Rory had to live with them; and it was absolutely essential that she could look Paris and Doyle in the face without blushing. 

“Think, Gilmore.” She chided herself. There had to be a way to get light in this apartment. She was a Yale student, for crying out loud! Ivy League students didn’t sit alone, shivering, in their apartments when the power went out. Ivy League students would use their massive brains to invent some ingenious device that will help them survive the current crisis and later make them a small fortune. 

“Aha!” Rory exclaimed, picking up a Vanilla Fields Pillar candle that her Grandmother had used when she redecorated the pool house. Rory had liked the gentle scent enough that she’d packed it when she’d been exiled into the main house; and she’d given the boys specific instructions to grab it when they moved her out of her grandparents house. Her spirit quickly sunk again, when she realized that there were no matches. “Great.”

Of all the weekends for Paris and Doyle to go on a romantic getaway, they had to pick this one. If they were here, Paris would have Doyle scurrying to the nearest Quick Mart to buy flashlights. Maybe if the power wasn’t back by the time the deluge died down a little, she’d go to the gas station herself and buy a flashlight. Or two. 

Rory stepped outside the apartment onto the covered walkway. All of the apartments were dark, but there was a slight glow coming from one, about three doors down.

Maybe they had a match, or even a spare flashlight. It couldn’t hurt to ask, could it?

She gathered up her courage and knocked on the door.

Muffled sounds came from behind the door, until it opened, revealing a familiar face.

“Rory?”

“Marty?” She hadn’t seen her friend in a long time. Things had never been the same between them after Marty confessed his feelings for her; and she’d shot him down. They seemed to avoid each other for most of Spring semester, only running into each other occasionally around campus. Life with Logan had been so hectic that Rory hadn’t thought of Marty in awhile, but now, seeing him again, she realized she’d missed him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, leaning against the door frame, a taper candle in his hand.

“I, um, live here. Or not, here, here actually, but down in 305. With Paris and Doyle. I, uh, didn’t know that you lived here.”

“What can I say?” He chuckled slightly. “I can’t escape Paris, no matter how much I try. I just wish I could afford a place with a more steady power supply.”

“This happens often?”

“Pretty much every major storm.” He said with a sigh. 

“And the fun of living in the real world just continues to grow, doesn’t it?” Rory sighed. “Can, um, could you light my candle?”

“How very _RENT_ of you.” Marty sniggered. 

“Yeah. I called in sick tonight at the Cat Scratch club, though.” Lane’s suggestion to go see _RENT_ along with _Pride and Prejudice_ had turned out to be a good one. “I didn’t exactly picture you as a musical theatre fan.”

“Really?” Marty raised his eyebrow a little. “I practically live and breathe the stuff.” He touched his candle to hers.

“I didn’t know that. OW!” Rory exclaimed as a drop of hot wax dropped on her hand.

“Rory! Are you okay?” Marty grabbed her hand, and looked at the area, where a small, raised, red area was beginning to form. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine, really. It’s just a little…”

“Come on in.” He tugged slightly on Rory’s hand. “We can run it under some cold water, and I don’t know, do you put anything on a burn?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged.

“Maybe an ice cube.” He said. “After the cold water. I mean, if the power doesn’t come back, they won’t be any good anyway, right?”

Marty led Rory to the kitchen, and stuck her hand under the cold water. 

He disappeared down the hallway, and came back with a towel and a bottle of Advil. Marty then opened the freezer and made a impromptu icepack with a bunch of ice cubes.

“Here we go.” He turned off the water and looked at Rory’s hand. “Well, the good news is that I don’t think there will be much permanent damage.”

“No permanent damage is always good.” She nodded. “Thanks.”

“Just to be safe, let’s put this on for awhile. And I’ve got Advil if it hurts too much.” Marty placed the ice pack on her hand gently.

“I’m okay.” She smiled.

“So you’re back at Yale.” Marty blurted out the words in a rush.

“Yeah, I am. How’d you know?”

“Saw you around.”

“Oh.”

“You like being back?”

“Yeah.” Rory smiled slightly. “I guess I’m just one of those people who’s just tailor made for academia.”

“I can see that.” He nodded. “So why did you leave, exactly? I’m not trying to be rude, but I personally didn’t believe the rumors…”

“What rumors?” Rory interrupted.

Marty sighed. “That you stole a boat in order to run away to Argentina to abort Huntzberger’s baby. Or that you took last semester off in order to have his baby.”

“What?” she squeaked indignantly. “I most certainly did not. Honestly, my Mom had me when I was sixteen. Like I would even get an abortion if I did get knocked up, not that I did, or will.”

“Rory.” Marty said calmly. “I didn’t believe the rumors. It didn’t sound like the Rory Gilmore I know, even though, you know, we weren’t, you know, close anymore. I stood up for you.” 

“Thanks.” She sighed. “I just can’t believe people would say stuff like that!”

“The gossip in college is worse than high school. Hell, College is high school all over again, with no bedtimes and no child labor laws. Everyone gossips about everybody, especially people who run around with Huntzberger and his crew.”

“Well I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Rory muttered.

“What?”

“We broke up. Logan and I.”

“I’m sorry?” It was halfway a statement, halfway a question.

“You wanna know what happened to me last year? I got an internship with one of Mitchum Huntzberger’s newspapers, and I thought I was doing a good job. At the end of the internship, Mitchum calls me in and tells me that I suck. I go off the deep end, fight with my Mom, drop out of Yale, move into my grandparent’s house, and steal a boat. I spent the rest of the year doing an absurd amount of community service and working for the DAR, and partying with Logan and his crowd during my free time. It wasn’t until an old, um, friend came and yelled at me that I realized that I didn’t like my life or the way I was living, and then, well, I moved back home, got a job at the paper Mitchum said I wasn’t good enough with, and went back to school.”

“Wow.” Marty ran his hand through his hair. “And all I did was declare a major.”

“You did?”

“Pre-Law.”

“Cool.”

The power suddenly came on, and Marty’s apartment was flooded with light.

“And let there be light, huh?” He said, gazing up at the ceiling. “Pretty bright, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess, I, uh, better get going.”

“You don’t have to. We could watch a movie, or something. I’ve missed you, Rory.”

“Marty, I don’t…” She bit her tongue, and rephrased what she was about to say. “I’m not ready for any type of relationship right now.”

“I got the message last time, Rory.” He said softly. “And after several hours of brooding, I’ve accepted the fact that we’re just meant to be friends. And I’m okay with that. But I’ve missed you, Rory. I want you to be a part of my life, and having you be a friend is good enough for me.”

“Okay.” Rory smiled. “What do you want to watch?” 

Since she’d broken up with Logan, Rory had spent most of her time around her mother, Luke, Lane, Paris, and Doyle. She’d spent a lot of time reading, a lot of time in the apartment by herself, wallowing in what had been, in the loss of her first adult relationship. This was a step in the right direction. A step in finding the Rory Gilmore she was meant to be. 

Marty was a good friend. She needed all the friends she could get.

Besides, _Pride and Prejudice_ would always be waiting on the couch for her. It wasn’t going anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted November 2005.


End file.
